Reading facial expressions from real and virtual humans. This project aims to advance understanding of human emotional communication and improve human rapport with the virtual humans and avatars that are rapidly infiltrating our social world. Using two unique stimulus sets - naturalistic human expressions and highly realistic virtual faces - together with powerful genetic, experimental, and individual differences designs, the project expects to answer previously intractable questions in emotion ....Reading facial expressions from real and virtual humans. This project aims to advance understanding of human emotional communication and improve human rapport with the virtual humans and avatars that are rapidly infiltrating our social world. Using two unique stimulus sets - naturalistic human expressions and highly realistic virtual faces - together with powerful genetic, experimental, and individual differences designs, the project expects to answer previously intractable questions in emotion science, as well as deliver tangible outcomes, such as new psychological tests to better understand human social connection. This should provide significant benefits, by improving emotion communication and offering a new perspective on how artificial intelligence can best serve human social needs.
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Protect, prepare and engage: Does extracurricular activity participation offer sustained benefits for youth? Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and music have the potential to promote healthy development and to reduce the levels of risk behaviours in teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight ....Protect, prepare and engage: Does extracurricular activity participation offer sustained benefits for youth? Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and music have the potential to promote healthy development and to reduce the levels of risk behaviours in teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight into the long-term benefits of making a diverse selection of organised activities available to Australian teenagers, and will improve our understanding of which aspects of participation are most likely to enhance their social and educational opportunities.Read moreRead less
How brain oscillations influence our behaviour. This project aims to reveal how sudden, intense stimuli impair or facilitate concurrent actions. Startling sounds can disrupt the execution of movements and distract attention from vital events in the environment, with potential disastrous consequences when handling complex equipment such as airplanes, cars and trucks, or surgical instruments. This project will combine classic experimental and novel neuro-modulatory techniques with the measurement ....How brain oscillations influence our behaviour. This project aims to reveal how sudden, intense stimuli impair or facilitate concurrent actions. Startling sounds can disrupt the execution of movements and distract attention from vital events in the environment, with potential disastrous consequences when handling complex equipment such as airplanes, cars and trucks, or surgical instruments. This project will combine classic experimental and novel neuro-modulatory techniques with the measurement of oscillatory brain activity. Expect outcomes will inform theories of cognitive function and the design of interventions to reduce the negative effects of sudden, distracting events.Read moreRead less
Evaluative learning: do all roads lead to Rome? This project aims to enhance understanding of how likes and dislikes are acquired and changed across a range of different settings. Evaluative learning, the acquisition and change of likes and dislikes, is ubiquitous and occurs in situations that range from trivial to traumatic. However, it is unknown whether evaluative learning in these different situations is mediated by a single or distinct learning mechanisms. Answering this question is critica ....Evaluative learning: do all roads lead to Rome? This project aims to enhance understanding of how likes and dislikes are acquired and changed across a range of different settings. Evaluative learning, the acquisition and change of likes and dislikes, is ubiquitous and occurs in situations that range from trivial to traumatic. However, it is unknown whether evaluative learning in these different situations is mediated by a single or distinct learning mechanisms. Answering this question is critically important for emotion science and the design of effective interventions for anxiety disorders and public health campaigns. The expected outcomes from this project will provide significant benefits, such as creating new knowledge to assist in applied areas ranging from the design of public health messages to the treatment for anxiety.Read moreRead less
The emotional face: What determines preferential expression processing. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning. However, we still lack a good understanding of key factors that facilitate or impede the processing of these important social signals. The current project aims to address this knowledge gap by providing a) a more rigorous test of the currently dominant account of expression processing, the evaluative congruence account, and deline ....The emotional face: What determines preferential expression processing. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning. However, we still lack a good understanding of key factors that facilitate or impede the processing of these important social signals. The current project aims to address this knowledge gap by providing a) a more rigorous test of the currently dominant account of expression processing, the evaluative congruence account, and delineating how b) contextual factors and c) person knowledge affect expression processing. The research aims to advance our understanding of facial expression processing, to build international collaborations, and to train the next generation of emotion scientists.Read moreRead less
Developing and testing dynamic models of goal striving in approach and avoidance contexts. This project will examine how people manage competing goals, such as productivity and safety, in a dynamic environment. The results will improve understanding of human motivation and have implications for practice in military, industrial and commercial settings.
Form and motion interactions in human motion perception. Vision works efficiently to detect the motion of both ourselves and other objects by combining motion and pattern information. This project will determine how the visual system achieves this and also create a detailed model that will be directly applicable to areas ranging from clinical neuropsychology to the analysis and design of visual displays.
From fluid intelligence to crystallised expertise: an integrative Bayesian approach. Intelligence is correlated with learning but uncorrelated with most aspects of expertise. Why is this so? Why does the role of intelligence diminish as one becomes more expert at a task? This project examines a broad range of cognitive tasks to provide a concise mathematical description of how intelligence relates to expertise.
Attentional and interpretive bias in anxiety: Concurrent expressions of a common selective mechanism, or independent mediators of anxiety vulnerability? The proposed research aims to determine whether two key cognitive biases recently shown to causally influence anxiety vulnerability, one involving selective attention to threat and the other involving the selective imposition of threatening interpretations on ambiguity, arise as concurrent manifestations of a common underlying causal mechanism, ....Attentional and interpretive bias in anxiety: Concurrent expressions of a common selective mechanism, or independent mediators of anxiety vulnerability? The proposed research aims to determine whether two key cognitive biases recently shown to causally influence anxiety vulnerability, one involving selective attention to threat and the other involving the selective imposition of threatening interpretations on ambiguity, arise as concurrent manifestations of a common underlying causal mechanism, or instead represent alternative causal pathways in the mediation of this emotional disposition. Resolution of this issue will significantly advance our theoretical understanding of the mechanisms that govern anxiety vulnerability, while also contributing directly to the development of new cognitive technologies designed to therapeutically modify such vulnerability.Read moreRead less
Bolstering commitment to positive social change through group-based interaction. Building on an impressive series of preliminary results, this research uses small group interaction to bolster commitment to work towards long-term goals. The methods explored in the proposal have the potential to boost commitment in the public, private, and community sectors by identifying the key factors responsible for sustaining long-term change. The research is relevant for efforts to combat racism, and to incr ....Bolstering commitment to positive social change through group-based interaction. Building on an impressive series of preliminary results, this research uses small group interaction to bolster commitment to work towards long-term goals. The methods explored in the proposal have the potential to boost commitment in the public, private, and community sectors by identifying the key factors responsible for sustaining long-term change. The research is relevant for efforts to combat racism, and to increase community support for international development and environmental sustainability. Benefits are expected both in terms of the promotion of positive attitudes in society and in overcoming apathy within organisations.Read moreRead less